Rice Terraces

Vibrant green paddy fields...

...and rice terraces.

Guilin Park Hotel between karst
and lake.

We arrived in Guilin in the early evening and were met by Lily and Mr Lo,
our new guide and driver. As we drove to our hotel - the Guilin Park
on the lake - we could see that the surrounding landscape is beautiful
with huge karsts dominating. These limestone karsts are a distinctive
shape, usually tall and narrow with a rounded top.

With the daughter of the restaurant owner;
a really lovely girl, she should do very well in her chosen profession
in tourism.

The following morning we woke to rain. It was, after all, the rainy
season, so not entirely unexpected. A long drive to the rice terraces
through magnificent scenery: brilliant green paddy fields, tea plantations,
clouds drifting between mountain peaks.

When we arrived at the village where we were to have lunch it was
again raining. Lunch was authentically local: young pea pods
with smoky bacon, fried white cabbage, bamboo shoots and egg, seaweed
and egg soup, rice - all good and in huge quantities. We did not wish
to offend but really could not do justice to all this good food.

The
girl serving us was lovely, a student at Xi'an University studying
English and Tourism.

Climbing through the rice terraces.

We climbed to the top
to view the terraces, passing farmers working the paddy fields oblivious
to the rain. A horse drawing a manual plough pushed by a farmer covered
in plastic, wading through water almost knee-deep.

Tantalising view of 'Seven Stars and Moon'.

At the top we had a thunderstorm
which was quite worrying. Afterwards the clouds cleared sufficiently
for us to see the beautiful landscape of rice terraces named "Seven
Stars and Moon"
before the weather closed in again.

At least we only had to walk in the rain - the people here must work in it if they are to harvest good crops.

This is a place we plan to
return to but we're not sure what time of year is best. We love the
green of the terraces at the moment but at this time of year you
always run the risk of rain storms!

Next
time we'd like to stay in this area and do some walking in the fabulous
mountains and terraces.

Tea ... and a short uphill climb.

Tea Plantation

On our return we stopped at a Tea Plantation and the second tea tasting
of our visit. One in Beijing had been exceedingly messy - here it was
much better and we tasted five different teas: green (smelly and tasting
of gooseberry, much stronger than hotel tea), lychee and black which
is quite sweet, jasmine, ginseng and oolong, osmanthus (local flower
- Guilin means "osmanthus flower") and oolong - we both liked
this and the green tea best.

Guilin from the top of Fubo Hill.

Statue of General Fubo.

Back in Guilin the river was flooding.

Quite a climb, the view from
the top of Fubo Hill is impressive. The peak lies in Fubo Park - both
named after General Fubo of the Han dynasty. The view of the karsts behind the city is fantastic.

Guilin Food Market and the Reed Flute Cave

Sacks of different kinds of rice.

Chopping meat with two fearsome choppers!

The following day the river was very high
and there was some discussion as to whether the boats would be allowed
down the river so we were
able to spend some time on our own exploring Guilin while it was
decided what would happen.

At 8a.m. lots of people were eating noodles in numerous cafes, usually furnished with very basic wooden tables and chairs.

We came across a market which was fascinating: sacks of many different types of rice,
counters covered with meat, beautiful fruit and vegetables, mushrooms, spices, duck (we'd
seen duck farms on our drive the previous day) - some of the smells
were rather strong!

Seaweed (foreground) & sausages.

Ginger root?

Chillis & mushrooms.

Back at the hotel the river trip was on. Before arriving at the jetty
we visited Reed Flute Cave - named for the reeds growing at its entrance which are used in flutes.

Inside the cave, which was formed millions of years ago, is a colourfully lit sequence of stalagmites, stalactites and other rock formations. Part of the cave was flooded which made for some beautiful reflections.

Left: a colourful page from the scrap book for Guilin. So many of
the entrance tickets were beautifully designed it was a shame
to throw them away!

Li River

Each passenger was given a
gift of a wooden comb in a
beautifully designed packet.

At the jetty a very large number of boats were to go in convoy down to
Yangshuo. We shared our table with six friendly oriental gentlemen.

The scenery is utterly spectacular. We had no sun but the mist drifting between the karsts was very atmospheric.

We must come back and spend more time here - the scenery is just stunning.
The river was running so fast that we made the journey in only two and a half
hours - normally it takes four!

Yangshuo

Paradise Hotel surrounded by wonderful karst scenery.

Yangshuo

It was a short walk from the landing stage to our hotel - the Paradise (Bill
C. stayed here - the hotels where he stayed are very proud of it).

We wandered around Yangshuo which is great for bargains, then decided
we had had enough Chinese food and opted for pizza and a bottle of
wine. Not bad at all, and the crepe suzette was excellent.

It rained all night and in the morning the small courtyards in the hotel
looked flooded, though not yet reaching the covered walkways. We walked
down to the river, borrowing hotel brollies, and it was really speeding
along.

We enjoyed a very scenic drive to the airport: lots of karsts and also water buffalo (good climate for them!). We had an excellent lunch there: beef/onion/peppers - quite
spicy, chicken in a crispy coating (but quite bony!), beans and very
good egg fried rice.

Water Village at Zhujiajiao

City God Temple tickets.

We visited the water village at Zhujiajiao (from Shanghai) with dire
warnings of not to eat anything as the river water, none too hygenic,
is used for washing fruit and vegetables.

The town grew rich from the Ming dynasty trade in grain, silk and pottery
as it lies on the large Jinghang Canal connecting Suzhou and Shanghai.

We visited the City God Taoist Temple where red ribbons covered with prayers for good health etc. are tied to trees. We were subjected to a very persistant "priest" who pestered us to make a donation or buy something.

Taoism is different to Buddhism, though many Taoiosts will also follow Buddhism. Taoism has many deities and believes in the oneness of nature.

This is a true water village with the buildings sorrounded by canals and built right on the water. All of the homes seem to have a landing stage and the main mode of transport in the past must have been via the waterways.

City God Taoist Temple
Great dragon/fish detail on the temple roof.

It's
a very picturesque place, and we had time to wander on our own, visiting
a small museum which had a lovely little exhibit on the development of the
plough from a simple stick used to dig a hole, adding a cross-bar to stand
on (i.e. a primitive spade), to a curved stick for digging a furrow. We discovered
that what we thought was ploughing on the rice terraces was probably ploughing
in manure to enrich the soil. The pharmacy is very interesting too, with
a wall of drawers and lovely blue and white pottery.

On to
the silk factory for lunch, though we declined a visit to the factory itself
where we could see ranks of looms spinning thread from cocoons. Chinese food
was beginning to pall a bit by this stage.

Shanghai: The Jade Buddha Temple and Yu Yuan Gardens

Jade Buddha Temple

Jade Buddha Temple
Golden Buddhas in the Jade Buddha Temple.

The Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai is a lovely building,
its corridors festooned with red lanterns. Statues of fierce gods glower and in the courtyards trees are festooned with red
prayer ribbons.

On to the Yu Yuan
Gardens, a classic Chinese garden with pools, bridges and rocks;
Ming Dynasty architecture, with circular Moon entrances, typical of the south,
and the usual annoying Rolex sellers - the only brand in the whole of
China it seems!

We ate lunch here in a tea house but it was not as good
as other Chinese food we have had.

On the way back to the hotel we visited
the Confucius Temple, where we prayed with incense sticks and were prayed
for by the monk with three strikes of the bell - it was very moving.

On our own in the afternoon we crossed the Bund and made
our way to the Beijing East Road. This is full of shops which, as we
have seen throughout our travels, line the street, completely open, and
are closed at night by an iron shutter. Here all kinds of hardware
is on sale: nuts, bolts, cable, string, tubing, car radiators, gaskets,
electronic components, bicycle tyres being repaired and the usual
mass of humanity hurrying along.

Shanghai

The Bund from the Panorama Bar.

Buildings on the Bund, from left to right: The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), the Customs House with Clock Tower and the Art Deco former Bank of Communications.

Fireworks on the Huangpo river.

Bund Financial Center
behind historic buildings on the Bund.

We were able to choose the end point of our holiday: either Shanghai
or Hong Kong. We weren't too keen on Hong Kong - its main attraction
seems to be shopping which does not appeal, and we'd heard good things
about the Bund so we opted for Shanghai. We were not disappointed and
both really liked this city.

Met with the usual efficiency at the airport, the drive to the hotel
revealed a city, like Beijing, with a lot of construction work going
on. Whereas the architecture in Beijing is massive and blocky, here it
seems much more modern. The Shanghaiese are obviously sensitive on the
subject of the Olympics and keen to point out that they host the World's
Fair in 2010 with the theme "Better City – Better Life"!

Our hotel is the Panorama at the north end of the Bund, close to the
Huangpo River, and the view of the Bund from the bar on the 31st floor
(which also does an excellent Tequila Sunrise), especially at night,
is fantastic. We had a beautiful serviced apartment which was great -
lots of space to spread out.

The Bund is certainly an impressive street - it gets its name from an
old Anglo-Indian term bunding: the embanking of a muddy foreshore. It
was the heart of old Shanghai's commercial district in the British concession,
and a working harbour in its heyday.

On the right bank of the river,
opposite the Bund.

I like Art Deco so we set out on our first day to track down a couple
of examples: the Peace Hotel, which turns out to be closed for 18 months
for renovation, and the Metropole Hotel, which is open. It's nice, and
does a good cocktail, but for Art Deco go to New York, and of course
London has some fine examples. We didn't see any fine decorative detail
such as can be found on Art Deco buildings elsewhere.

Although M on the Bund comes highly acclaimed, we didn't find anything
to tempt us on the menu. In the same building, albeit in the basement
so without the views, is Lin Bar & Grill, which does excellent fillet
beef and Spanish Suckling Pig, washed down with a more than acceptable
Tuoling red.

It seems the world and his wife take a walk along the Bund in the evening. The
long waterfront Promenade is popular with the locals and there are lots
of food vendors, including candied plums which are fantastic - messy but
fantastic!

The restaurant in the Panorama is on the 30th floor and a window table
has excellent views of the river, which is a fully working river. A
continuous convoy of huge barges laden with sand, gravel, coal, timber
makes its way upstream.

One evening we took a boat trip on the Huangpu river - a stately promenade
down and up the river in front of the Bund on an illuminated boat. Followed
by a very good meal at TSens on the Bund: prime rib of beef with extra
chips (albeit delivered after we'd finished the meat!), California Merlot
and freshly baked bread. Finished off with a drink in the Panorama with
the view of the Bund that I doubt can be bettered.

We took the subway to the French
concession to see the colonial housing areas. The Sun Yat-sen house seems
very British in its interior and lawned garden. Dr Sun Yat-sen was the
first president of post-imperialist China. He lived in this house from
1918 to 1924 and the interior holds many of his personal possessions.

Tickets for Sun Yat-sen house

MagLev tickets

From the scrap book, brochure for the Rui Jin Hotel, former home of Mr Morris,
on the right.

Mr Morris's Tudor-style house (he was a newspaper magnate) is a peaceful
oasis and now a fine hotel.

In the parks we wandered through, kite-flying is
very popular.

Returning home we travelled to the airport on the Mag Lev train - only 7 minutes
to travel 30 km, with a top speed of 431km/hr,there's a display of its speed on
the train. A fitting way to end a wonderful holiday.